When walking large or strong animals on a leash, the animals will occasionally make a sudden movement away from the person holding the leash. This may occur, for example, if a dog pursues a cat or other animal that it is naturally predisposed to chase. The sudden movement of the animal when the leash is slack will produce a sharp jerk on the leash as soon as the maximum extent of the leash is reached. This sudden jerking is hard on the person holding the leash and may also be hard on the animal.
The present invention proposes a novel leash construction that ameliorates this problem.